U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces stormed a mosque in the Iraqi capital on Saturday to search for illegal weapons, the U.S. military said. Religious officials said the raid left a trail of overturned furniture, scattered holy books and broken windows. Capt. Tom Burrel of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division said no arms were found during the raid on the Bin Taymia Mosque in west Baghdad. He said U.S. forces searched the shrine's compound while guardsmen entered the mosque itself. Sheik Mahdi al-Sumaidaei, the head of the Supreme Association for Guidance and Daawa, a conservative Sunni clerical organization that runs the mosque, denounced the operation as part of an effort to intimidate the group because it opposes the U.S. military presence in Iraq.
